BANG! POW!

[rthstewart]

The Narnia Big Bang is in full swing and you should go check it out!

We have the creepy gothic circa regna tonat by deathsblood
And the delightful caper,The Red Leather Trousers Escapade (1/17) by wingedflight21 (Eustace, Jill, pineapples, and a mongoose who thinks he's a squirrel)
And To Every Thing There Is a Season by edenfalling (which I am going to read now read last night and it's fabulous)
 snacky also has a poll up.

There is also wonderful art up for the stories by heverus, i_autumnheart, caitriona_3 and sophiap

My thanks to the folks on AO3, guest(s), mattador and Samizdat, for the kudos.  (Given that Samizdat is the name of one of my favorite Star Wars fics from the 90s by Shura4, I really did a double-take when I saw that handle).

I was going to put this behind a deep (new LJ! scissors) cut that was all navel-gazing about how as of Friday after 29 years, I am no longer swimming in the Tiber, but have pulled myself out of that river and decided to cross the Thames.  I mention this only as I know a lot of you have been down this road (and swum this river), and so probably understand the general vibe of anger and regret.


(Also, I'm sorta kinda floundering on something with the latest AW update, so that's got me hand wringing.  Sunday?  Maybe Sunday?  if you are interested in hearing me flap, fluster, and ramble, drop a line or ping me.  Here, have a paragraph!

Helen tried a different tactic. “Over the summer, did you hear anything from Susan, or about her through Peter? What did you suppose she was doing?”

Digory looked thoroughly flummoxed. “I recall Peter saying Susan was visiting Washington and New York? Sightseeing?” He shook his head. “I’m afraid it was uninteresting to both of us, Helen, and I paid it very little mind.”

“Shopping,” Polly said crisply and with a hint of disapproval that put Helen’s back up. “Peter shared Susan’s letters with me when I asked and she wrote me once or twice. Susan was excited about attending a formal dinner at the Embassy when Churchill visited. She told me what she wore and where she bought her shoes.”

Oh Susan, you clever, clever girl. Helen knew for a fact a great deal more had occurred during even that dinner. The Official Secrets Act be damned, she had to ask at least one question, though the answer already appeared plain. “So you do not know any reason why Susan or Edmund would be drawn by inclination or background into espionage?”

“That’s preposterous!” Polly said immediately.

Comments

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Polly and Digory, I don't think you're going to entirely win against Helen on this one. She's asking about background, you two, like there's a possibility they have more than just their background with her.

I am no longer swimming in the Tiber, but have pulled myself out of that river and decided to cross the Thames.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that though I have an idea; I hope everything's okay. If you need to talk, I'm here. *hugs*

Planning on reading your Big Bang this afternoon! :D

ETA: Also have an otter.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm fine, but thanks. Not easy by any means, since I have to resign from a bunch of positions, but the right thing to do.

Enjoy your reading!!! And you're right about Polly and Digory not winning against Helen. She's pissed and looking for some answers.

[h-dash-h.livejournal.com]

I got to that point with a major project in which I had invested a tremendous amount for years. Not a paying job, but as close to that as an outside-work project could get for me at that time. It sucks, and I felt bad walking away from a lot of work that still needed to be done, but I was no longer the right person to try to do that work. I'm still with that project, btw, just needed to not be in such a prominent role anymore.

No idea if that sounds relevant or not, but I thought I'd offer it. It was a gut-wrenching decision for me.

In other news, I read your Big Bang fic the night it was posted and absolutely loved it. I've been trying to find time to comment properly (fortunately now just generally busy, not sucked into a black whole by work or ill health). Rest assured you've got at least one more detailed bit of commentary coming your way!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

he's alive! Lovely to hear from you! The story will be going up on ff.net so you can also share commentary there when it goes up if you are so inclined. I've been curious to hear your thoughts on Peter's arc and Susan's reflections on her selves, among other things. Thank you for reading!

Thank you also for sharing the experience. In this case, it is a spiritual change with attendant stepping down from existing positions and responsibilities. So, yeah, that happened.

it's funny. Coincidentally, LARM just reviewed a chapter of Rat and Sword where Lt. Becker tells Susan "We will not let it be said that we prevented women from receiving their medical care.” She thought I had just made a comment that the Nazis were providing what critics of our government policy say should not be provided. Which is relevant to the above point and where my head has been lately. This fandom has definitely pushed me further in one direction.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Otter EAT METAL. SHINY!

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

KILL IT KILL IT OM NOM NOM SHINY

[adaese.livejournal.com]

And when it's destroyed the keys it will demolish the car for afters.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

The inability of the military to harness the destructive force of the river otter is surely a tragedy.

[lotl101.livejournal.com]

So many otters! Wonderfulness! I'm just seeing them trying to submerge oranges

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Oh Polly. You spent your party-going years in and out of Holloway, didn't you, and can't enjoy seeing anyone else having a little frivolous fun.

I suspect your comment about the rivers of being somehow metaphorical, but (assuming for the sake of the anecdote that it's entirely literal) I will urge you to be careful about dips in the Thames, and do bear in mind (if you haven't already come across this) that it's called the Isis, not the Thames, when in Oxford. I've never taken the plunge myself but did once do a spectacular cartwheel off a punt pole, somehow or other managing to land, not in the river, but in another punt. Very amusing for onlookers but probably rather more painful than a soaking. Anyway, good wishes for all the resignations, and I hope the move doesn't cost you any treasured relationships.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

I would pay money to have seen your punt-cartwheeling incident. Though it probably didn't feel as good as the swim would have been.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

I couldn't even manage to land on one of the cushions. OWW!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

And the thought of you vaulting off a pole into a punt is just... really extraordinary. It's not funny. Really. Not. OK. It is. And So English. The American version would be something like -- my head crashed into a fire hydrant on the beer slip and slide in the college Quad.

[econopodder.livejournal.com]

I note for the record that those of us from The Other Place always pole from the rear of the punt, standing on the deck rather than inside. The problem with this is that there's little opportunity to recover if, as usually happens in the River Cam, the pole gets stuck in the mud. I have not cartwheeled into another punt (!!!), but have taken an unexpected bath or two.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

My world is complete,nothing hurts, and we need icons and popcorn, programs with little ribbons in them and an epic soundtrack. Also, a spaniel and an umbrella. econopodder and adaese are in an Oxbridge trash talking smackdown about punting technique.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Your world will not be quite complete until you've seen Peter & Edmund demonstrating the fine and noble art of the punt-joust. I'll leave it to you to organise the programmes.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

The other problem is that the deck is a better place to put the fifth passenger / Pimms / strawberries / raincoats, as if you put them on the sloping bit they'll get wet. I have been a passenger on the Cam, but have never attempted the art of punting - I'd always understood the reason for the different styles was something to do with the nature of the river beds, but perhaps not if you kept getting unsolicited baths.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I am trying to persaude adaese to stage a reconstruction ...

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

You get right on that and do let us know the outcome so should you be successful, we might make the trek with iPhone in one hand and a Pimm's cup in the other. Were such an event in my past (I'm thinking of something involving a blender and a lampshade on my head in 1987) and my nearest and dearest were lobbying me to recreate the event, spouse would be wearing the lampshade and son's facebook page would be spammed with embarrassing pictures of his first bath.

[econopodder.livejournal.com]

I get it . . . and I'm available if you need to talk, though I'm likely who/what you feel like venting to.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[lotl101.livejournal.com]

If you need someone to talk to, I'm here. Helen's *ahem* interview of Polly and Digs is very amusing. Need a sounding board for the rest though? I offer my services, such as they are.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you! So kind! I hammered out the scene last night and need to stare at it a bit...

[autumnia]

I hope all is well and that crossing to the Thames will be a lot more rewarding and happy for you in the long run. (Funny how you speak of such things when I've been considering something like that in the last week myself.)

And if you are literally crossing the Thames, you might be able to find some fascinating historical artifacts washed up on the banks though they may end up belonging to the Crown anyway. Also, now would be the best time to cross as you'll not have to deal with the hundreds of boats that will take part in the pageant for the Queen's Jubilee coming up.

Hmm. Given how fast Polly answered, that could be either a sign that she really has no clue or she's being defensive for Susan and Edmund. It does seem more likely to be the former and considering how disapproving she sounds about the contents of Susan's letters, I don't think she sees the gentle Queen as someone who would be involved in something so dark and dirty like spying.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

PM if you want to take it off line, but I hear ya. [just deleted rambly bit]

Huge AW chapter is huge. The current chapter is over 16,000 words (4,000 of which is chapter 1 of RaSGTW) and it's uhhmmm yeah... LOTS happens. The answer to Polly is made clear though her conflict with Susan isn't especially new. It's sad, but I think it's easy to see.

[knitress.livejournal.com]

I will admit the thought of swimming myself has crossed my mind. But for the moment I'm on vacation. I don't want to leave (turns out that while I don't believe in familial religious identity as theology, I'm affected by it as culture). I don't think that I could view myself as anything but an exile. But life is long, and I may surprise myself.

We need to have a drink and talk it over.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I got a very nice note from my director of liturgy last night and that did make me feel better. Even he acknowledged the issue, obliquely, which really helped. My departure from the lector ranks is, as things go, a pretty big thing. They have plenty of lectors, but not many who have been doing it as long as I have or as well.

[(Anonymous)]

I continue to struggle with moving from North to South where women have a much more restricted public role and will admit that this has been highly discouraging. I hope that your next adventure brings you as much happiness and satisfaction as the one you leave now.

Doctor Dolly

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you. As discouraging as it is here, I'm sure it's even more so elsewhere.

[sedri.livejournal.com]

That's a very teasing teaser. Looks to be fun!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

16,000 words and growing

[varnafinde.livejournal.com]

"“Shopping,” Polly said crisply and with a hint of disapproval that put Helen’s back up."

This indicates to me that for the rest of her life, Polly will never know the truth of what Susan did in America ...

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I think you are right. Also, my thoughts are very much with you and your fellows this week given what begins tomorrow.

[varnafinde.livejournal.com]

Thank you. For my own part, I guess I will read the newspaper headlines and probably some internet articles, and leave it at that. There are many that feel that there has been some information overload this winter. One newssite has announced that they will have an anti-trial button, which will hide all news of the trial from the screen, so that people may have the chance to ignore it.

It affects city life to some extent, though - the streets around the court building have been closed off, not as I first thought, for security reasons, but to give room for all the "mobile homes" of newspapers and newsagencies from all over the world. There's security if you want to enter the building, though.

The experts disagree whether he was insane or not. His only regret is that he didn't manage to do even more. But that alone doesn't make him insane, only cruel. He claims self-defence on behalf of the society, and that he deserves a medal for his brave work.

It's going to be hard for all those who were involved. Some of them will be called to testify. I cannot imagine how I would feel about something like that. I'm sure they will appreciate kind thoughts from friends around the world.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I completely understand that information overload. On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I didn't go near the coverage. I couldn't. I'm sure this is much the same. Cordoning off streets and security screenings are a routine event in my world and I'm sorry that this is something that you have to deal with.

When my husband and I traveled in Rome 23 years ago, the Italians had a very heavy and armed presence in the airports as they had been dealing with their own brand of terrorism for years. We were shocked and intimidated by the machine guns. Now, in our post 9/11 world, we didn't even blink at the security presence. Nor did our son. We assume there will always be people with guns and uniforms and metal detectors. It is not an improvement, psychically and sociologically, but the shock and discomfort is something one become acclimated to.

[linneasr.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. Nice little paragraph. I'm very happy that Helen is an active character in Not-My-Children's Narnia.

Whatever is inspiring you to cross the Thames (and whatever that means), I hope it's a bright thing, and that you find peace with it all.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Helen has been a revelation. And congrats on your move to Berlin! This all sounds SO exciting. And really you are so my hero for doing this all and to do so now.

I hope you enjoy Rat and Sword. I'll be posting on FF.net soon.

As for Helen, yes, there's lots of Helen in this update. And Asim. And Edmund. and Lucy.

[h-dash-h.livejournal.com]

Yay! Helen and Asim and Edmund and Lucy! I am so looking forward to it, and looking forward to finding out how Polly got to the point of so easily falling for Susan's ruse. It is, as you say elsewhere in the thread, sad.

I'm very much enjoying that you've reached a point in the character development where we're seeing the limitations of characters initially introduced as these wonderful accomplished people with amazing lives and/or potential (depending on age). And at the same time, having a character like Helen emerge from assumed blandness.

Part of this has been rattling around in my head trying to figure out how to write itself out as a review of RaSGTW. To be continued....

[min023.livejournal.com]

Love the snippet, and yes working my way slowly through the Bang postings - why does there have to be sooo much work when I'd rather be reading. Re the river change, well I've been been over at the Thamea all my life, so welcome, and hope it works well for you.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This snippet is part of a 16,000 word chapter which I would normally split into two, but the first 4,000 words are from the Big Bang... so...